Poor little Kouhai
by eunjus2
Summary: Kirihara, being the only second year regular, feels mistreated by his senpais.
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day at Rikkai. Birds chirping in the trees and students were sitting outside in the sun instead of being locked up in classrooms.

The tennis club regulars were no exception. But the calm was soon broken when a shrill voice cut the air.

"Oi _Bakaya_! Gimme back my pocky!" Marui Bunta shouted, launching at their second year ace.

"Try and get it senpai", Kirihara smiled, and danced out of reach of the angry boy. "Hehe, seems like you're too fat and lazy already as it is!"

"Hey! Respect my genius!" Marui ran after the second year as the rest of the regulars watched, mildly entertained. Yanagi was reading a book and Yukimura was discussing something (probably tennis) with Sanada. Nious was eating the last of Marui's pocky and Yaguuy was studying.

"Hahaha! Too slow, Marui-senpa_ouch!_"

Kirihara had run into Jackal who caught the struggling boy and held him so that Marui could catch up with them.

"Thanks Jackal!" the self-proclaimed tensai said, panting slightly. "You're a wall!"

"Uh yeah, that's why I'm one of the regulars?" Jackal said.

"Stupid Jackal-senpai!!" Kirihara screamed, trying in vain to wiggle out of Jackal's grip. "Why'd you do that for?!"

Marui smacked his face, but lightly. "That'll teach you not to mess with a genius, _Bakaya_." he grinned.

Said _Bakaya_ kicked the bubblegum-blowing boy on the leg, definitely earning his new nickname. Marui kicked back and soon a war of leg-kicking was going on at full frenzy with Jackal trying to hide behind Kirihara and at the same time holding him.

Niou stood up, and walked over to them (after finishing with Marui's pocky, that is). A smile danced in the corners of his mouth.

"Hey hey", the trickster said. "No use of violence in public places. You're embarrassing the tennis club!"

Sanada, who was listening with half an ear, would've agreed. Would've, if the words hadn't come out of Niou's mouth _while_ Niou was smiling. Nothing Niou said or did could be good for any living being.

"Marui", the trickster now said, "let's teach the brat a lesson."

"Eh? What're you thinking, Niou?" the redhead popped a bubble.

"Jackal! To the showers!" the trickster said, sounding excited.

"WHAAAAAAT?!" Kirihara screamed. "But- but senpai! I was just _joking!_ It was a JOKE! I wouldn't steal Marui-senpai's pocky for real, would I? Cause- cause that's _stealing!_"

"Shut up and stop struggling", Marui said, hitting Kirihara over the head. "It's not gonna hurt you to get a little wet!"

"Noooooo!" Kirihara wailed as the three senpais carried him towards the clubroom. "Buchoooooou! HELP MEEEE!!"

"Genichirou, why don't you go and take care of it?" Yanagi suggested.

"Why don't _you_ do it, Renji?"

"I doubt I alone could handle the unified forces of both Niou and Marui", he said.

"And _I_ simply don't want to", Sanada declared. "It's Akaya's mess. Let him solve it. Besides, today is hot. Like Marui said, a little water won't hurt him."

"IDIOTS! You're the WORST senpai-tachi in ALL OF HISTORY!!" Kirihara screamed at them as he was carried away.

Suddenly, Niou dropped the leg he'd been carrying, and ran back towards the other regulars.

"Wha?!" Marui still held onto the other leg. "Hey Niou, where're you-"

"Marui, Jackal, RUN! He's turning into red-eye mode!" Niou shouted as he ran.

The other two dropped their kouhai and ran after Niou, screaming and flapping their arms. But who wouldn't be if a red-eye mode Kirihara was chasing after them?

"Genichirou, I'm starting to get a headache from all this yelling…" Yukimura said, sighing. Sanada shot up as if someone had poked a stick up his… well, you get the idea.

"That's enough!" he roared, and the four regulars stopped dead-on. "Now all four of you will come back here and sit your sorry asses down THIS INSTANT!"

"Hai fukubouchu!" the three third-years shouted, saluting.

"Hey, no fair!" Kirihara said. "Fukubouchu, why didn't you interfere when they tried to shower me?!"

"Because", Sanada said, "by that time Yukimura still hadn't gotten his headache from your loud yelling, Akaya. Now get back here!"

Kirihara did, but as he passed Sanada, he muttered something under his breath. Sanada grabbed the collar of the boy's school uniform.

"Would you care to repeat that sentence louder?" he said, turning Kirihara around to face him.

"I said you're being unfair!" Kirihara said. "You're always picking on me! Niou-senpai ate Marui-senpai's pocky-" (Marui gasped, and Niou inched away from the redhead)

"-but you're not telling _him_ to run laps or any of the things I usually have to do!"

"So you want fairness to the last detail?" Sanada growled. Kirihara nodded. "You can start by go back to the others and rest. Because you're going to run laps during afternoon practice until you fall down!"

Kirihara opened his mouth to protest, but took one look at Sanada's face and decided to do as he'd been told instead.

"Come again next year, _kouhai_" Marui whispered as Kirihara walked past him.

"OK, that does it!" Kirihara said. He picked up his schoolbag, and started walking towards the school gates.

"Kirihara-kun, where are you going?" Yagyuu called after him. The other boy didn't even bother to answer. Instead, he rushed out and got on the first bus arriving at the bus stop.

Kirihara walked to the back of the bus, where he slid down on a seat. He closed his eyes.

_Stupid Marui-senpai and stupid fukubuchou_ he thought before slowly drifting to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Kirihara was woken up when the bus suddenly stopped which made his head hit the seat in front of him with a small thud. He moaned and rubbed his temple. There were voices coming from the front of the bus, and Kirihara peeked between the small opening of the two front seats.

_Oh great_ he thought. _Just what I didn't need – the wholefrickin' Fudomine tennis team! What the hell are they doing in Kanagawa? _ He wasn't exactly fond of that particular team of weaklings, and they probably wouldn't scream like fangirls once they saw him, either. Not after what he'd done to their buchou at the Kantou tournament.

Kirihara grabbed a nearby newspaper thrown at a seat, and made himself small where he was hiding behind the paper.

The bus soon started rocking again. After a few minutes, Kirihara growled as he saw the bus stop he usually got off at, pass by. With those guys from Fudomine who probably wanted his blood, he couldn't get off the bus before they did. And they were probably going all the way to Tokyo.

After a while, he started listening to their conversations. He still thought they were idiots and even more so when he heard one of them ranting and mumbling under his breath. When sneaked a peek, he saw one of them listening to music, bobbing his head and moving his feet in time with the music.

They seemed to be having fun, though.

He recalled that all the members in Fudomine except for their captain were second-years. _Must be nice_ he thought. _Not being mistreated by your senpais everyday_.

"Kamio!" the one with the cap said, and tapped the redhead on the shoulder. "Hey, Akira! Where're the snacks?"

"Eh?" the redhead pulled out the earphones. "What?"

"The snacks?"

"They're in my bag." He put the earphones back in again.

"So typical Kamio", the longhaired mumbled. "Putting our snacks into his bag without saying anything. I could've carried them instead. At least I hear when others are talking to me but how is he supposed to hear anything when he's always listening to music? And he's supposed to be our fukubuchou too… he's not very responsible. How will it be next year when Tachibana-san isn't with us?"

"It'll be just fine", Tachibana assured him.

"Yeah because then you won't be the only third year in the club", Kamio said, pulling out his earphones. "Cause you're going to continue play at university, right Tachibana-san?"

_At least they've got each other_, Kirihara thought. _But I'm the only second year, that's totally unfair!_

"But who's gonna replace you in the club, Tachibana-san?"

"Idiot Uchimura! Tachibana-san is irreplaceable!"

"It'll probably be some second year and we'll have to teach him how to swing properly and how to warm up so that he won't injure himself" Shinji mumbled.

"Cool, it'll be just like having a little brother!" one of the Fudomine people exclaimed.

"And we'll be third years by then! _That's_ cool!"

"Oi! This is our bus stop!" Tachibana said. "Everyone get off _Shinji, don't push him!_"

"Stop pushing, stupid!"

"You two stop bickering! I'm not your mom so I shouldn't have to tell you off. When're you guys gonna learn to be more careful?"

"You could always start assign us laps like Rikkai's Sanada-san does" Uchimura suggested jokingly.

"I should probably start doing that everytime you're arguing. That would probably calm you down a little... and maybe prevent you from playing when you're injured."

"_It was just once!_"

The voices of the Fudomine team died as the sound from the motor filled the bus. Kirihara sighed. Maybe it wasn't that entire problem free to be a team consisting of only second years…

The sound of his phone filled the bus.

"_Hey Akaya? Where are you?_" Great… Marui-senpai.

"Hi senpai. Uh, I think… I'm in Tokyo…" 

"_Tokyo?! What? Why're you in Tokyo?_"

"Cause the bus I got on when I was escaping my evil senpais is going to Tokyo?"

"_Stupid kouhai! This is no time to be sulking! Get your ass back here, Yukimura-buchou is treating everyone to ice-cream after practice!_"

"OK Marui-senpai! I'm on my way!"

"_Great! And if you make it before four o'clock I'll treat an extra! Just see it as a favor to my favorite kouhai!_"

_click_

Well… maybe being the only second year had its benefits from time to time…


	3. Chapter 3

Damn that Niou-senpai!

Kirihara rushed into the boy's bathroom and slammed the door shut, ignoring the first-year he'd pushed aside.

Why couldn't he, the second-year ace Kirihara Akaya, get to play as singles2?! Instead it was Niou-senpai! Stupid Niou-senpai!

He had challenged Niou-senpai the day before yesterday too, in order to make Yukimura-buchou change his mind. Since Kirihara was Rikkai's second-year ace it should've been an easy win.

But instead he'd lost a humiliating defeat of 6 games to 4 when his senpai had started to impersonate other tennis players. First he'd been and then Shitenhouji's buchou Shiraishi. And then, Niou-senpai had impersonated Seigaku's tensai Fuji…!

When the hell had he learnt that?! No way Niou-senpai had been that good a few months ago! And Yukimura-buchou had been smiling, too! _He'd been smiling!_

"Akaya" the muffled voice of Yanagi came from the other side of the door. "I'm sorry to have to disturb you but I have a first-year here who urgently needs to use the bathroom. Would you please open the door?"

Kirihara growled, but proceeded to unlock the bathroom door and walked out. The first-year rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Then, it was just Kirihara and Yanagi standing in the empty school corridor.

"What d'you want Yanagi-senpai?" Kirihara muttered.

"You forgot your English homework in the clubroom" Yanagi answered, handing it to his kouhai. Kirihara reluctantly took it; he hadn't actually forgotten it, more like tried to get rid of it since he hated English and hadn't done his homework.

"Thanks", he mumbled and stuffed the homework into his bag.

"You left in a hurry", Yanagi noted. "Any particular reason?"

"No… not really." Only stupid idiot Niou-senpai. He had bumped into Niou outside the showers and the stupid idiot had grinned at him like some kind of white-haired devil. So Kirihara had left the clubroom before everyone else because otherwise he would've hit that stupid grin out of his equally stupid senpai's face.

"Akaya" Yanagi said, partly opening his eyes. "Care for a walk to the courts?"

"Uh… sure!" Any excuse to miss English class was a good thing.

Yanagi led the way to the courts and neither of them said a word while crossing the sundrenched schoolyard. When they reached the courts, Kirihara spotted Marui, Yagyuu and Jackal sitting on the benches facing the courts.

"What's going on, Yanagi?" Yagyuu said as they approached the group. "Why did you call us here all of a sudden?"

"We're missing home economics" Marui sulked, popping his gum.

"… you're not supposed to take that class senpai" Kirihara said, wrinkling his nose.

"Yeah I know. But the new home economics teacher doesn't!" Marui grinned wide.

"Uh… why'd you say 'we'?"

"Why do you think?" Jackal muttered. "Bunta told the teacher all Brazilians are this tall their first year in middle school so I'm taking that class too…"

"Stop complaining! You get to eat my wonderful cooking!"

"True, true… and I get to clean up your mess too."

A coughing sound ceased their talking and Yanagi.

"The reason we're all gathered here", Yanagi said, "is because of the newly arranged order for the Finals."

"Yeah, with Niou hogging the singles2 all singles places are taken" Marui exclaimed.

"Which leaves the two doubles pairs" Yagyuu said. "Now, with Yukimura-buchou in the team we have an extra player. That means one of us won't be playing in the Finals unless any unforeseen occurrences take place."

"Singles3 will probably be Sanada, singles2 will apparently be Niou" Yanagi said. "As for Singles1 it will be Yukimura."

"That leaves me, huh" Kirihara said, feeling a slightly sinking feeling in his stomach. "I'm the only one here who's not a doubles player."

"Well, normally that would exclude you from the Finals" Yagyuu said. "But given the fact that you're one of the best players in Rikkai…"

"I think we're being too nice, really" Marui said, popping a bubble. "But we're giving you a fair chance here."

"You will challenge all of us in singles" Yagyuu said. "And if all four of us lose to you we'll teach you how to play doubles."

"Yanagi insisted" Jacka added when he saw the distrustful look on their kouhai's face.

--------

Later, when Kirihara lay in his room, he still couldn't believe his luck. Or was he really that lucky?

_**FLASHBACK**_

_We'll start tomorrow, Marui said. I'm up first so meet me at the courts after school's finished and Sanada's gone home. And if I win you'll buy me ice cream for the whole month right? _

_**END OF FLASHBACK**_

---------

NEXT DAY AFTER SCHOOL

Marui was already at the courts when Kirihara got there, the other boy was fixing his shoelaces at the bench. He wasn't wearing his tennis uniform but rather a t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

"Alright let's do this!" Marui said, and pointed his racket at Kirihara. "And remember the ice cream dear kouhai!

"I'm gonna make you regret this" Kirihara said, grinning.

Marui swallowed hard. He now remembered why he didn't like playing against Akaya. And suddenly forfeiting didn't sound so bad after all…

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys! Author eunjus2 here! I made this into two chapters instead of one (too) long and I hope you don't mind.**

**And remember, I'm trying to write my two stories **_**Poor little kouhai**_** and **_**How to create gossip: Niou and Yukimura style**_** so that stuff that's only just mentioned in one of the stories might be written about more in-depth in the other story.**

**And now, you can start to feel sorry for poor Marui cuz he's gonna get himself kicked badly in these two chapters.**

----

Marui was exhausted and he was also out of foul words to shout. He didn't even know the scores anymore. All he knew was that it felt like his whole body was in pain.

Akaya had hit him with a knuckle serve again. He could already feel one of his eyes blacken, not to mention his abs and one of his knees where Kirihara had hit him.

"Are you ready Marui-senpai?" the other boy said while licking his lips, before throwing the tennis ball high up in the air. Kirihara had managed to keep all of his service games so far, and Marui had kept most of his own too. And it was probably the best game he'd ever played.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" a voice suddenly bellowed and Kirihara dropped his ball. Because Sanada had arrived, and he was apparently in a foul mood.

"Hi fukubuchou…"

"WHY are the two of you playing on the courts this time of the day?! EXPLAIN YOURSELVES!"

"Why're you here Sanada-fukubuchou?" Marui said, popping his gum. "Shouldn't you be home doing your homework?"

"Seiichi asked me to- THAT IS NONE OF YOU BUSINESS! The tennis courts of Rikkai are NOT your private playground! I want to hear an explanation from the two of you AND I want it NOW! MARUI!"

Kirihara gave Marui a quick glance. One that told his senpai another knuckle serve would be coming his way if he told Sanada the truth about why they were on the courts.

"Yanagi set us up so that Akaya will have a spot in the Finals if he wins against all of us and I was up first cuz I wanted it over with" Marui said in one breath.

"That- that's unheard of!" Sanada gasped, eyes widening. "How dare you do this? And doing it without asking for Yukimura's permission first?!"

"I think Yanagi did something like that already" Marui said vaguely, hoping it would satisfy Sanada enough to make him go away.

"…I really don't know what to say about this" Sanada sighed. "But you may continue with this… this…"

"Giving-our-kouhai-an-extra-chance game?" Marui suggested.

"Hey!" Kirihara protested.

"Well, we are y'know" Marui said, smiling. "We could've refused you this great opportunity. But we didn't since we're such good senpais."

"…you all must be the worst senpai in history."

"Well, you must be the un-cutest kouhai in the world!" Marui snorted in a way that made Kirihara furious.

"You- you're fat senpai! _Fatty-senpai!_"

"_WHY_ can't the two of you get along? Alright I'm leaving now and when I come back the two of you better be gone from this court. Do you hear me?!" Sanada said, and started walking away.

"And you're my _stupid_ kouhai - you're failing English!" Marui shouted over the net.

"At least I'm not the one taking extra Home Economics with the first-years!" Kirihara screamed back from the other side.

Sanada stopped. And he slowly, slowly turned around to face the two troublemakers.

"Marui… is that true?" he whispered, walking towards the self-proclaimed tensai. And Marui instinctively knew when to run for it.

So he dropped his racket and ran, with Sanada chasing after him.

"YOU'RE DISGRACING THE TENNIS CLUB!" Sanada roared. Kirihara was sitting on the ground, laughing.

"Akaya" Yanagi said. The data master had managed to creep up to him from behind without him noticing.

"AH! I mean… hi Yanagi-senpai!"

"… What are Genichirou and Bunta playing? Really now…"

"Uh…"

"Never mind that" Yanagi said, frowning. "I do need to speak with Genichirou though. Yukimura called and said he had something to explain to us. And it was urgent…"

"I think Marui-senpai got away" Kirihara interrupted. "Somehow… And it's starting to get all dark, too."

"Alright then, I'll grab Genichirou and get out of here too" Yanagi said. "Akaya, go and find Bunta for me will you? And then please call Jackal and agree on a time to play."

Kirihara sighed

"Alright, alright. But could you grab our stuff and take it to Marui-senpai's place later?"

"Renji! You've got some explaining to do!" Sanada bellowed, interrupting them. Kirihara chose this as his time to sneak away, and went to get his senpai who had escaped into the park that was nearby school.

**TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT CHAPTER**


	5. Chapter 5

**Second part! It's pretty long. Enjoy and if you've got opinions - review!**

----

"Marui-senpai!" Kirihara shouted. He waited for a moment before screaming: "HEEEY! BUNTA-CHAN! WHERE'D YA GO??!"

No answer except for a small breeze that made the leaves rustling. And it was getting darker too.

A bird of some kind hooted and suddenly the park seemed a lot more unfriendly than a moment ago…

"Uh… Marui-senpai? Come on I wanna go home! Please…?" O-kay… this wasn't the least fun and Kirihara could think of a lot of things he'd rather be doing at the moment.

What if some kind of big, evil monster had eaten his senpai?! What if Seigaku's Fuji had Hakugei'd him and Kirihara was next in line?!

_Something_ behind Kirihara made a slightly creaking noise. And that was enough for our favorite kouhai to lose it. He ran screaming towards the only safe place he in the park that he could think of: the park's run down old tennis courts.

"NOOO! PLEASE DON'T EAT MEEEE!!!" he screamed, and jumped to hide behind a tree.

Something small and light hit Kirihara's head and he frowned slightly. "… Boo" a voice above him said.

"_Eeeek!!!_"

"Stop screaming,_ Bakaya_" Marui said. "Here, I'm up here. I'm hiding from fukubuchou." Kirihara looked for the source of the voice, and found his senpai sitting on the tree branch of a big tree with a lot of cones.

"Bunta-chan senpai!" he gasped, relieved. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Yeah, right…" Pop.

"Uh… what happened to you eye?"

"What happened to my eye?!" Marui hissed, as he carefully picked one of the cones. "YOU happened Akaya!" he screamed, and threw the cone at his kouhai. "Your stupid violent play style is what happened to me!"

He launched more cones at Kirihara, who tried to fend himself. And some of the cones actually hit pretty hard.

"H-hey! Stop it! What'd I do to you?!"

"You want a list?! I hate you! You stupid brat!! Don't you ever _think_ before doing things!?"

"Hey! I bet you won't be so cocky _when I play in doubles1!_" Kirihara screamed, giving his senpai the Finger.

More throwing followed and by now Kirihara was tired of fending them off. He grabbed a cone off the ground and threw it back as hard as he could. It hit Marui senpai in the head, nice and clean.

_Uh-oh...! _"No! Look out!" Kirihara screamed as Marui momentarily lost his balance and slumped down off the branch.

Kirihara rushed forward, arms outstretched. And he actually _caught_ his senpai! Was this the first cool moment of his young life?

Not likely. Since Kirihara was the second-year ace of Rikkai and he was therefore used to doing unlikely cool things on the tennis courts.

And, frankly – falling and landing onto his butt because his senpai was too heavy probably didn't count as very cool…

"Ow… you fatty-senpai" Kirihara whined. But Marui didn't answer him. The redheaded boy seemed to be knocked out cold.

"Marui-senpai _wake up!_ Shit… Perfect. Just perfect" Kirihara muttered as he shook his unconscious senpai lightly. No response.

_Now what?_

----

**LATER AT MARUI'S PLACE**

Jackal was sitting in the sofa, zapping through the TV-channels. Bunta's parents were out of town and his two little brothers needed watching after. But right now they were asleep upstairs.

And Jackal, being an only child who'd asked his parents for a little brother or sister for Christmas since he was five, was quick to volunteer to look after the two boys while his doubles partner played against their kouhai.

It was already late though, and Marui should've been back now. Yanagi had even come over to dump Akaya's and Bunta's bags and uniforms over an hour ago. Together with their cell phones, so Jackal couldn't call them and ask what had happened. Or call to shout at them that dinner was turning cold.

He sometimes felt like he was their mum and he silently wondered if Seigaku's Oishi ever had these kinds of problem.

_KNOCK KNOCK_

Putting on the pink bunny slippers he always wore when visiting Bunta, Jackal got up and went to the front door.

"… what the heck are you wearing Jackal-senpai?" a slightly bleeding Kirihara said as he eyed the pink slippers. He had small cuts and bruises in his face but it was nothing compared to the boy he was carrying.

"What the hell happened to Bunta?!" Jackal gasped, almost choking on his own tongue, but then he draped his arms around his doubles partner. Kirihara didn't really mind losing all that extra weight he'd been carrying for the past hour(s) and quietly slipped into the house.

----

He followed Jackal upstairs. The hall outside Marui's room had pictures of the family hanging on the walls, featuring them in different stages of life.

Kirihara snickered as he saw a picture of his senpai as a five-year old, sitting in an umpire chair as if it was his throne, holding a tennis racket in one hand and a piece of cake in the other.

"I've called Yukimura-buchou" Jackal said, and waved with a cell phone. He'll be over in a minute so I suggest you have a good explanation for this."

"Uh… listen, it's not what it seems like" Kirihara started to explain.

"If we'll lose our doubles1 match because of this Yukimura's gonna have your whole body shaved."

"No he won't" Kirihara protested. "And why d'you think that _you'll_ be-"

He quickly shut his mouth. Because the look in his senpai's eye told him that it was_obvious_ which pair would play as doubles1.

"Hello!" a voice from downstairs called. Kirihara recognized it as Niou's. "We're here!"

As Jackal went downstairs to greet their new visitors, Kirihara went into Marui's room and sat down beside his senpai. Marui almost seemed to be sleeping where he lay on the bed, quilt pulled up to his chin. The quilt was… pink. And it had flowers on it.

What if Marui-senpai died here and now and he died covered in a _girly_ quilt?! Kirihara didn't know which of them was more depressing.

"Knock, knock" Yukimura said in a hushed voice, standing in the door opening.

"Hey, buchou…" Kirihara said, lighten up slightly at the sight.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure." Kirihara moved over to make room at the bedside.

"Poor Bunta" the buchou sighed. "He was very kind to me while I was in the hospital, you know", Yukimura added. "He'd come visit me by himself after school sometimes and he always brought small treats he'd made in the first-years' Home Economics class."

"… I didn't know that" Kirihara mumbled, feeling slightly guilty over the fact that he'd exposed his senpai's secret to Sanada.

"That's a nasty black eye Bunta's got" Yukimura remarked, frowning. "Who gave him this?"

"Uh…" Kirihara swallowed hard. By now Yukimura's gaze almost seemed to pierce him.

"Don't you have anything to say?" Yukimura said with a slightly accusing tone in his voice. No, not slightly. He looked _angry_ and – and… as if he wanted to _shave_ someone.

"_I'm sorry Marui-senpai!_" Kirihara wailed, and threw himself upon the pink quills. "I didn't mean to hit you in the head with those stupid cones, I promise! Please don't let Yukimura-buchou shave me!"

A hand landed on Kirihara's shoulder and he looked up to see his buchou smiling at him.

"Akaya… I'd never do that to you" Yukimura said with his soft voice, and tears of gratitude formed in the second-year's eyes. "But I might have Genichirou do it for me, you know."

_EEEEEEK!!!_

"Ugh… why's all noisy?" Marui moaned and Kirihara and Yukimura simultaneously blinked.

"Marui-senpai! You're not dead!" he gasped, clinging to his senpai.

"Shut up… and get off me _Bakaya_. Thanks to you I've got a headache…"

"Well, isn't this great" Yukimura said and got up from the bed. "I'll go and tell Niou about this. Meanwhile Bunta can think of an appropriate thank-you gift for himself."

"Thank-you gift? Why's that?"

"For bringing me sweets while I was in the hospital" Yukimura said right before he left. "I never thanked you properly, y'know."

...silence filled the room. And Kirihara decided to break it.

"So… what're you gonna ask for?" he asked.

"I'm gonna ask for Doubles1 for me and Jackal, of course!" Marui said. "Ain't I a genius?"

"WHA?! NO WAY! You can't do that!" Kirihara exclaimed. "YOU CAN'T! That's way unfair!"

"No-one said life was fair, my dear kouhai", Marui smirked.

Kirihara threw a tantrum, but suddenly he stopped. "Hey… Marui-senpai?"

"What, brat?"

"Did Yukimura say he'd '_go and tell Niou_'?"

"…"

"…"

"… So… why do you think Yukimura and _Niou-senpai_ came here togeth-"

"Y'know what? I don't wanna know."

"But-"

"NO! I _said I don't wanna know!_"

"BUT-"

"SHUT UPP _BAKAYA!_"

FINI


	6. Chapter 6

Hi everyone!

And this one'll be rated T for safety! ;-)

--

--

"Why're you always giving me laps when I mess with Marui-senpai?!" Kirihara shouted at Sanada. "That's no fair at all! Are you in love or what's the matter?!"

He started chanting: "_Sanada and Marui, sitting in a tree F-U-C-_"

But suddenly someone grabbed his shirt, and he winced and prepared himself for the hit he thought would come.

Instead, someone, he vaguely recognized it as Niou, _kissed him!_ And in the five seconds it took for his brain to recover from the initial shock and reboot itself, he could feel something wet and soft and…_Niou-senpai's tongue!!_

"NIOU-SENPAI I HATE YOU!!!" he screamed, freeing himself from Jackal who held onto his arm, and shoved Niou as far away from himself as possible.

By now, people in the back as well as students who'd just arrived to the school yard, started moving forward again and so, people tended not to take notice of the boys who were standing at the school building's entrance.

After all, the tennis team was brilliant, yet crazy. So the other students at Rikkai tended to just ignore them when they didn't play any matches.

"OH MY GOD! _Why'd you do that?!_" Kirihara gasped while his mind raced, still trying to grasp the situation. "That-you-"

Niou just grinned, and patted his kouhai's head.

"Don't do that!" Kirihara shouted, while trying to hold back the tears that were building up. _Niou-senpai just stole my first kiss!_ "That was my _first kiss! Gimme back my first kiss!!_"

An even more shocked silence followed, and Kirihara bit his lip. Now why the hell did he say that...?! Argh, stupid!

"Uh… it _was?_"

"At least tell him you're sorry!" Marui piped up.

But Kirihara had already fled inside the school, screaming and swearing.

The team gave Niou a collective '_now look what you did_'-look.

Except for Yagyuu, who was sitting at his desk in his classroom, wondering what caused the ruckus in the corridors.

"I'll go get him back" Marui sighed. "Better do that or else he'll miss class, eh?"

--

--

Marui left with that, and started running the stairs in the school that led to the roof. Akaya was an uncomplicated boy and he always hid on the roof when he felt mistreated.

And just as he'd guessed, the door to the roof was open. He found his kouhai sitting at a bench especially placed there by Yagyuu, Jackal and himself during their time as first-years.

"Stupid Niou-senpai" Kirihara sniffled, rubbing his eyes with a fist. "I'll never forgive him for this…!"

"Hey Akaya!" Marui said, and the other boy looked up. "Care for a piece of chocolate?" He handed his kouhai a chocolate bar he'd had laying in his bag for ages.

"Chocolate won't get my first kiss back" Kirihara muttered, but he still accepted the sweets. "Now I think _both_ girls _and_ boys are icky! Thanks to Niou-senpai! I'm never gonna have a girlfriend, not ever!"

"Then your mum will be sad" Marui said thoughtfully as he sat down beside his kouhai.

Kirihara stiffened remarkably. _Oh my god! What's mum gonna say if she finds out about this…?!_

"Tell me this is a bad dreeeeeaaaaaam" he wailed, burying his face in his hands.

Marui sighed and leaned back. Then, he smacked Kirihara on the back of his head.

"Stop crying, idiot! Cheer up – it could've been a lot worse than this!"

"I'm not crying! And you tell me how this could've been worse! I've just had _my first kiss _taken, in front of the_ whole school_ – by _Niou-senpai!_"

"… it could've been a bad kiss" Marui finally said. "But I hear Niou's a pretty good kisser."

"… it wasn't _bad_" Kirihara muttered. "But he could've at least _asked_ y'know!?"

"You don't _ask_ if you can kiss someone! Stupid kouhai!" Marui exclaimed. "What're you thinking with?!"

Kirihara muttered something Marui couldn't hear. And they sat together in silence for a couple of minutes_. At least it's nice day and the wind's blowing nicely…_ Marui thought.

"So… who was your first kiss senpai?" Kirihara finally said. Marui glanced at him, and Kirihara glanced back. They looked at each other for a while.

"I won't tell you" Marui finally said, popping his gum.

"Hey! No fair!"

Marui stood up and stretched. Kirihara stared at him.

"I think this'll be as far as my senpai-duty goes" Marui said. "You can sit here and sulk for all I care, but I'll be going to class now. See ya at practice, stupid kouhai!"

Kirihara fretted for a moment. But since he thought that he could still make it to class, he followed soon after. Marui hadn't even closed the door to the roof… Kirihara hesitated when he heard voices coming from the stairs.

"He'll be alright" Marui's voice said. "I think it was mostly the shock."_Marui-senpai! _Kirihara thought._ And…_

"Hn. But he'll still be running those laps at practice" Sanada's voice said. Kirihara leaned a little forward so that the silhouettes of his teammates came into view.

"But he's right you know… maybe you should go a little more easy on him" Marui suggested. _Yesss! Way to go Marui-senpai!_

"Do you want laps too Marui? If not, then shut up-"

"You know, fukubuchou that doesn't work on me anymore…"

"… really?" Sanada looked a little surprised, and hurt.

"Well, at least not when we're alone" Marui admitted.

"And I like it that you're still calling me fukubuchou when we're alone" Sanada whispered. A long silence followed, only broken by a few moans and Kirihara almost swallowed his tongue when he realized that_fukubuchou's kissing Marui-senpai!!_

"OMYGOD!! WHAT'RE YOU DOING TO MARUI-SENPAI?!" Kirihara screamed and his senpais quickly untangled themselves from each other when they heard him.

"No! Akaya I can explain, _this isn't what it looks like!!_"

"_That's just unsanitary!!_ I'm definitely never letting you share my ice cream again Marui-senpai!!"

"Wha-?! You're crazy! Crazy-kouhai!!"

"You're crazy BOTH OF YOU!" Kirihara shouted as he ran past them. "I'm gonna tell Yukimura-buchou about this!!"

Sanada on the other hand didn't say anything but his face had again turned into a purple shade of red and he was rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You little brat!! Get back here!!"

"Let him go" Sanada said as Marui made a move to follow their kouhai. "We'll get him at lunch anyway."

"But- Mhm…" Marui's protests were muffled by Sanada taking up where they left before they were interrupted.

--

--

Meanwhile, Niou, Jackal and Yanagi were hiding around the corner. Jackal was holding onto Kirihara, whose mouth was taped with duct-tape and Renji was holding a whispering conversation with his friend Inui from Seigaku's tennis club. Niou was holding a camera, snickering.

--

--


	7. Chapter 7

**Another chapter up! Thanx for your patience!**

**TIME FOR KIRIHARA TO MAKE SOME NEW FRIENDS! ;- )**

--00--

--00--

It was Sunday afternoon which meant no practice! Or it meant practice was over since Rikkai's tennis regulars always practiced at weekends, but only once a day compared to the _at least_ two practices they had before and after school. And sometimes they also had _during_ school, too.

Sunday meant going to the arcade, and at the same time it meant wading through couples on dates or children doing fun things with their parents.

Eating ice cream and not doing homework was also part of the weekend delights.

Kirihara suddenly walked into someone, and before he had a chance to even mouth 'sorry' he heard a voice yell: "Oi! Watch where you're going!"

Not that he'd planned to excuse himself anyway – especially since he almost dropped his ice cream.

"_You_ watch it!" he retorted. Then, he frowned. "Hey aren't you Fuji's little bro-"

"_Don't say it!_" Yuuta growled, shaking his fist. "My name's Fuji Yuuta, and _not_ someone's little brother!"

"Uh… right. Sorry Yuuta-kun…" Kirihara said, trying to look apologizing. The frown in Yuuta's face gradually disappeared.

"It's okay… guess I didn't watch where I was going. Well, it's my first time here…" Yuuta mumbled.

"What, you're here all by yourself?" Kirihara said.

"No I _was_ here with my team but I kind of… lost them" he said, grimacing. Or not really _lost_ them, since Yuuta had escaped when the team had, courtesy of their manager, stopped at a _boutique_ for the umpteenth time that day.

And Mizuki-san was gonna kill him...

"You wanna go to the arcade with me then?" Kirihara said, smiling.

"Uh… sure? But why're you being so nice to me?" Yuuta wondered, a frown appearing in his face again.

"Well, I thought I might find out your brother's weaknesses if I hang out with you for a bit" Kirihara answered and gave Yuuta a look of complete honesty.

Yuuta gave up. "Yeah sure… maybe I'll find my team at the arcade." Or not. "But my brother isn't so easily read!"

"Well if it isn't my favorite kouhai" a familiar voice drawled. That is, familiar for Kirihara and the voice sent chills down his spine.

"Niou-senpai!" he said, groaning silently. "… wait, did you follow me from school or something?" he said when he spotted Niou's tennis bag.

"I just missed my_ favorite_ kouhai. Now introduce me to you new friend" Niou added, giving Kirihara the Glare of Death promise.

"Niou-senpai, this is Fuji Yuuta. Yuuta-kun's lost his team – and Niou-senpai's gonna get lost now too!"

"Well, hard to _lose_ that hint" Niou snickered and winked at Yuuta who almost smiled. "What're you boys gonna do today?" Now, Kirihara was gesticulating behind Niou's back. It could've been the universal sign for 'Don't tell him!' or it could've been the sign for 'I'm pregnant'. Anyhow, the other boy didn't get Kirihara's hint at all.

"We're going to the arcade" Yuuta answered honestly, and Kirihara groaned out loud.

"Great! Then I'm coming with you" Niou said, placing an arm around Yuuta's shoulders.

"H-hold it Niou-senpai!" Kirihara protested, shoving Niou's arm off Yuuta. "You can't just invite yourself like this!"

"Why not. It's not like you're on a date or something, right?" the trickster smirked, raising an eyebrow.

Both Kirihara and Yuuta blushed, shaking their heads furiously.

"_Of course we're not!!_"

"_Why would we?!_"

Niou laughed at them. He hadn't been serious but their reaction sure was fun to watch! Yuuta, on the other hand, was now clenching his fist and growling in a low voice.

"Yuuta! You're on a date? Why didn't you tell me?" another voice said, a couple of meters away. Kirihara and Niou turned around.

"A-aniki!?" Yuuta gasped, his grey eyes widening. But Kirihara had by now seen the person accompanying Fuji. And his eyes grew to the size of two big, green plates.

"Oh my god!" Kirihara gasped, staring. "Buchou you're a- a"

"…Akaya?" Yukimira said questioningly, but smiling all the same.

"You're a _hippie?!_"

Fuji chuckled. "I don't think the word you're looking for is hippie" he said. Kirihara didn't hear him, but continued to stare at his captain. Yukimura was wearing loose kaki pants, a shirt with an open collar and his feet were clad in sandals.

"Wha-?" Niou said, grinning. "Akaya, you didn't know? Our buchou's actually quite a relaxed, non-opponents crushing boy outside the courts."

"Aniki, what're you doing in Kanagawa?" Yuuta asked his brother.

"Saa… just visiting a friend" Fuji answered, nodding towards Yukimura. "We were actually going to the courts. Would you like to come with us, Yuuta?"

"Uh… but…" Yuuta protested as he was grabbed by the arm and led away by his brother and Yukimura. Niou simply shrugged, and tagged along. Kirihara came running after them not soon after, shouting as he tried to catch up with them.

**ON TO THE COURTS!**


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry it's been a while since I updated with Christmas, school and New Years and all...

--00--

**THE COURTS!**

Kirihara heard the familiar sound before he even saw the courts. Marui-senpai and Jackal-senpai were having a doubles match against an oddly familiar pair. On the side of the courts were two other boys watching.

"Marui-kun! SUGEE!" the strawberry-blonde on the side shouted, jumping around when Marui-senpai returned the serve.

"Gekokujo" the other boy muttered, satisfied, when the Mukahi missed the ball – he'd just jumped in the wrong direction.

"Shit!" Mukahi screamed, and looked as if he wanted to hit something or someone. His partner apparently tried to calm him down, with some success. Then, a tennis ball slowly bounced onto their side of the courts.

"Don't you know its good manners to wait before the opponents are ready?" the blue haired boy drawled in Kansai dialect.

"I thought you were out of balls since you're taking so long!" Marui shouted over the net.

Niou snickered and Yukimura stifled a smile behind his mouth. A smile that froze when Oshitari said: "So Marui-kun… I heard that you're dating Sanada now?"

Marui almost dropped his racket in surprise. Jackal shouted for him to ignore the comment.

"Yuushi! Is that true?!" Mukahi shouted, flabbergasted.

"That's what Atobe said and he should know" Oshitari said, and then grunted as he served.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Marui shouted, returning the serve.

"Only that our buchou has had his eyes on Sanada for some time now, and then you come from nowhere and nick him right in front of Atobe" Oshitari drawled, as the two were rallying.

"It's not like I came from nowhere, I'm a tensai too y'know" Marui protested. "_And we're not dating!_"

"Well then what are you doing?" Mukahi said, returning the shot. Now it had become a 2 against 1- game since Jackal was standing at the baseline unable to get any shots at all.

"We're just… kissing" Marui said, hitting a shot at the corner of the opposite baseline. "And it's none of your business anyway! _40-15!_"

Oshitari served.

"Well that makes sense" Mukahi suddenly said. "I mean, why would Sanada want to date someone like you, when he could have Atobe?"

- - -

"What the-" Kirihara snarled, and turned to his senpais. "Niou-senpai what the hell's that guy trying to pull on Marui-senpai?!"

"Probably just trying to make him lose his cool" Niou said, eyes narrowing. "Just be quiet and watch, Akaya."

- - -

"I happen to be a _tensai!_" Marui shouted, and by now his face was getting almost as red as his hair. "It's not like I'm just some lousy D2-player like _you_ are!"

Mukahi hissed, but he'd lost his cool too and the ball flew too high up in the air.

"Oi! Chance ball!" Yuuta exclaimed.

Marui jumped high, and smashed the ball – straight into Mukahi's face.The boy howled in pain as he fell to the ground.

"_Gakuto!_" Jirou exclaimed, rushing out onto the courts to help his friend. "Aaaah, Marui-kun why'd you do that?!"

"Game set, 6-0!" Hiyoshi shouted, but he didn't move from his spot on the side of the line. "Gekokujo…"

"Anno…" Yuuta said, looking at the boy. "Aren't you Hiyoshi Wakashi from Hyotei?"

"…my idiot senpai-tachi are from Hyotei too" Hiyoshi said, looking over at the courts where Oshitari and Jirou tended to Mukahi's face.

Then, a hand fell onto Yuuta's shoulder. When he turned around he met Mizuki's face. In fact, Mizuki's face was just inches from his own. _Uh-oh!!_

"Uh… M-mizuki-san!"

"Nfu… Yuuta, what are you doing here?" Mizuki said, and for a moment Yuuta's heart almost skipped a beat. Then, the manager said: "We haven't been on these courts for ten minutes and you already wander off on your own! Come along now, we're leaving since the courts here were taken. It's almost time to return home anyway."

"H-hai Mizuki-san!" Yuuta said. "Bye, Aniki!" _Lucky, he never noticed I left the team earlier today!_

The St Rudolph team, on the other hand, looked a little bit dazed. as they made their way towards the train station. That was most likely a result of Mizuki's yammering about purple and roses. Yuuta, on the other hand, didn't seem tired at all thanks, to his escape earlier.

"Come to think of it" Fuji suddenly said as he saw his younger brother take off, "the three of you are probably going to be captains next year." _Damn that manager of his to take my brother away!_ he thought.

"Ah, but the brat won't get captain if his grades doesn't improve" Niou drawled. "He failed a test in English again last week."

Kirihara gulped, when he saw the look in Yukimura's eyes.

"Now, we can't have that, can we Akaya?" he said. "The captain of the tennis club should set an example for the rest of the members. And failing classes is _not_-"

"But buchou, I'm no good at tending to little flowers like you are." Pop. Marui had arrived from the courts.

"I wasn't saying_ you_ should be _like me_" Yukimura said, forcing a smile. "And Marui, what was the meaning of that last smash? Becoming like Akaya, are we?"

"Well, at least I'm not failing any my classes" Marui grinned. "And I'm not a member in some girly committee like _some people_ are."

Niou and Akaya gulped, backing a few steps away from Yukimura, who was a member of the school's fine arts committee. Smiling as he was often did, they knew their buchou sometimes would get his look of _murderous intent._

But Yukimura just continued to smile. Maybe Marui would get away with it this time?

"Alright then" their buchou said. "I'll call Genichirou and ask him to help Akaya prepare for when he has to retake the examination. In two weeks, was it?"

The boys present could almost see Mauri's grin fade away as he realized the meaning of Yukimura's words.

"Nooo!" Kirihara howled. "Why can't Renji help me like he did last time?! Or Jackal!!"

"Renji helped you last time?" Yukimura arched a brow. "Even though I told him to only concentrate on his own schoolwork?" More gulping from Kirihara who immediately realized he'd said something stupid.

"Uh, no… fukubuchou will do fine! Just fine!" the boy quickly ensured.

"Great" Yukimura said, smiling wider. "Come along Marui, Fuji-kun. Let's go get some ice cream. My treat" he added when he saw the look on Marui's face. Instead of being treated to ice cream, he looked as if he'd just suffered a total defeat. _Two whole weeks? _he thought. _What the hell, Sanada'll be pissed off! _

--00--

Niou watched them leave; he didn't feel like ice cream right now anyway. Instead, his eyes wandered towards the boys from Hyotei; Mukahi was whining about headache, while Oshitari snapped at him to be quiet. Jirou was simply trying to wipe Mukahi's bloody face with a wet towel, making the other boy wince.

_Yeah, he's pretty cute_… Niou thought, licking his lips. Oshitari chose that exact moment to look up. He gave Niou a cold stare. Steady gaze, just as expected from the tensai of Hyotei.

"Let's go" Oshitari said to his friends, tossing his blue hair out away from his face with a hand. "My driver should me here any moment." He didn't even glance at Niou as he walked past the Trickster, so close their hands almost touched.

--00--

_Totally unfair!!_ Kirihara thought, his lower lip trembling. Why the hell did he have to learn English from fukubuchou?! Wasn't it enough that he had to withstand him at practice – now he would have to see him after school too!!

"They left without you too huh" a voice suddenly said and Kirihara's lip stopped trembling.

"Wha-?! Hiyoshi-kun" he said, surprised. "I thought your senpais left already!"

"They did. But they forgot to take me with them (as always)" he muttered. "I'm used to it" he added. _Gekokujo!_ He thought, it had happened _again_ and not even Jirou-senpai had remembered him this time.

"Oh. You want to grab something to eat? I'm starving!"

"Sure. Your treat though."

_Maybe my senpais aren't that bad after all_ Kirihara thought as they walked away from the courts. They treated him like a baby, and more often than not they were pretty unfair too. But at least there was no way they would forget him on a trip.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed, startling him. He flipped it open without even checking who the caller was. Stupid Kirihara!

"Hello?!"

"Akaya" a stern voice said. _Uh-oh!_ "Yukimura called me. Come over to my house after lunch and bring your English textbooks" Sanada said.

"But its Sunday-"

_Klick._

--00--

THE END (of this story)


End file.
